US Travel GS

The Yahoo product feedback forum now requires a valid Yahoo ID and password to participate.

You are now required to sign-in using your Yahoo email account in order to provide us with feedback and to submit votes and comments to existing ideas. If you do not have a Yahoo ID or the password to your Yahoo ID, please sign-up for a new account.

Everest View Trekking, also known as Everest Panorama Trekking is suitable for those adventurous who wish to see the Mt. Everest in short span of time by doing trek in low altitude only. So this easy trek can be done by everybody. During Everest View Trek, the friendly Sherpa people you meet; explore their pristine rich culture, colorful festivals and monasteries; encountering with different rare flora and fauna; and very beautiful picturesque view of landscape, mountains and different snow capped peaks along with Mount Everest make the holiday lifetime memorable. For more: http://www.blackdiamondexpedition.com/trip/view/everest-view-trek/overview

Celebrate this holiday season by strolling this unique neighborhood and touring the homes that once belonged to military officers on Lawton Loop. Each home has been beautifully renovated adding today's amenities while keeping the charm and character of their turn of the century origins. We will have holiday decor, music, and light fare at each of four destination for your enjoyment. The tour also includes scheduled performances at the "stage area" a wine-tasting area, outdoor hot chocolate & hot cider station, and a gift shop of local art and handmade gifts. As this year's tour is spread out around the Loop, a free shuttle service is available.

Celebrate this holiday season by strolling this unique neighborhood and touring the homes that once belonged to military officers on Lawton Loop. Each home has been beautifully renovated adding today's amenities while keeping the charm and character of their turn of the century origins. We will have holiday decor, music, and light fare at each of four destination for your enjoyment. The tour also includes scheduled performances at the "stage area" a wine-tasting area, outdoor hot chocolate & hot cider station, and a gift shop of local art and handmade gifts. As this year's tour is spread out around the…

The Temple of Derr or El Derr is a speos or rock-cut Egyptian temple built by pharaoh Ramses II in Lower Nubia. It is the only rock-cut temple in Nubia which was constructed by this pharaoh on the right (or east) bank of the Nile and used to stand at el-Derr. The temple’s unique position was probably because the river on its approach to the Korosko bend flows in an unnatural’ southeasterly direction. The Derr structure was known in ancient times as The Temple of Ri’amsese-meryamun [Ramses II] in the Domain of Re and was dedicated to the god Ra-Horakhty. Scholars disagree over its precise construction date: the French Egyptologist Nicolas Grimal states that it was built in the thirteenth year of Ramses II, presumably to coincide with his first royal jubilee. In contrast, John Baines wrote that the temple of Derr was built in the second half of the king’s reign, likely because its plan and decoration resembles the Great Temple of Abu Simbel (minus the colossal seated statues against the facade). Abu Simbel was built between Year 24 and Year 31 of Ramses’ reign. According to Joyce Tyldesley, the Temple of Derr was built by Setau, who is known to have served as Ramses’ Viceroy of Kush or Nubia between Year 38 to 63 of this pharaoh’s reign. The temple of Derr is more elaborate than the speos of Beit el-Wali and consisted of a sequence of two hypostyle halls (probably preceded by a forecourt and a pylon) leading to a triple sanctuary where a cult of statues of Ramses II, Amon-Re, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah was celebrated. When cleaned and restored in modern times, Derr proved to contain unusually bright and vivid relief decorations which contrasted sharply with the more subdued color tones from other Egyptian Temples.

The Temple of Derr or El Derr is a speos or rock-cut Egyptian temple built by pharaoh Ramses II in Lower Nubia. It is the only rock-cut temple in Nubia which was constructed by this pharaoh on the right (or east) bank of the Nile and used to stand at el-Derr. The temple’s unique position was probably because the river on its approach to the Korosko bend flows in an unnatural’ southeasterly direction. The Derr structure was known in ancient times as The Temple of Ri’amsese-meryamun [Ramses II] in the Domain of Re and was dedicated to the god Ra-Horakhty.…

After a long day in the sun and a short afternoon siesta, comes the best time to go shopping in Hurghada. Gift shops are in abundance around town and you’ll find jewelry, perfumes, painted papyrus, spices, cotton, shishas, postcards, Alabaster statues and more. Join the crowds in the El Dahar district after the sunset for a reviving bazaar haggling experience and enjoy the spectacle of local craftsmen working.

The modern village of El Bahnasa, in the governorate of El Minya, is the location for the destroyed site of the capital of the 19th Upper Egyptian nome. Little is known of the pharaonic history of the town of Per-Medjed, except that a species of mormyrus fish was worshipped there in a local cult. The ‘sharp-nosed fish’ is reputed to have been one of the three species of Nile fish who, according to legend, ate the phallus of Osiris when the god’s body was cut into pieces by his brother Seth. Plutarch tells of a dispute which broke out between this town and its neighbour, Cynopolis, who worshipped a dog – each community being accused of killing and eating each other’s sacred emblems. Per-Medjed was called Oxyrhynchus (or Oxyrhynchonpolis) by the Greeks who named their town after the sacred fish.

The town began to gain in importance during Ptolemaic times when it became a prosperous regional capital and under the Greeks and Romans became the third city of Egypt. Oxyrhynchus was a large and sophisticated town during Roman times, with access to the camel-routes between the Nile Valley and the western oases. It is thought to have housed as many as 6000 people during its prominence, and a few structures have been revealed from this period, including part of a colonnade and a substantial Roman theatre. Textural evidence tells us that there was also a gymnasium, public baths and about twenty Temples. The site was visited by Denon and other early travelers, before Petrie dug there for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1896. The site had long been quarried for its stone and brick and remaining structures were few. However it was Arthur Hunt and Bernard Grenfell who were to make the name of Oxyrhynchus famous.

The two archaeologists from Oxford had been excavating for papyri for the newly-formed Graeco-Roman branch of the Egypt Exploration Fund, especially in the Fayoum area. In 1896 they turned their attentions to Oxyrhynchus, where they discovered, in the town’s rubbish mounds, a large quantity of papyri scrolls ranging from the Roman conquest to the early Islamic period. Between 1896 and 1906, Oxyrhynchus yielded an impressive collection of texts for Grenfell and Hunt, mostly written in Greek but also in Latin, Coptic and Arabic. Literary works included plays and poetry, several previously lost classical works, as well as known texts of Plato. Fragmentary Christian texts were also found, including a collection of Logia, or sayings of Christ, some which do not appear in the gospels. Other discarded manuscripts found in the rubbish dumps consisted of letters and texts which shed an important light on daily life in Roman Egypt. Details of political, financial and religious concerns have been revealed in this, one of the largest and most important finds of papyri in Egypt. Together Grenfell and Hunt went on to edit and publish many volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri for the Egypt Exploration Fund.

The modern village of El Bahnasa, in the governorate of El Minya, is the location for the destroyed site of the capital of the 19th Upper Egyptian nome. Little is known of the pharaonic history of the town of Per-Medjed, except that a species of mormyrus fish was worshipped there in a local cult. The ‘sharp-nosed fish’ is reputed to have been one of the three species of Nile fish who, according to legend, ate the phallus of Osiris when the god’s body was cut into pieces by his brother Seth. Plutarch tells of a dispute which broke out between…

On the east bank of the Nile at the edge of the eastern desert between Akhmim and Asyut, are a series of cemeteries which were investigated by Petrie between 1922 and 1931. These ancient burial grounds stretch fromQaw El Kebir in the south to Matmar in the north and served as burial grounds for the inhabitants of this region of Middle Egypt from Predynastic times right through to the Roman era. The whole area is generally known as the El Badari region and encompasses cemeteries at El Hammamiya, El Badari, Mostagedda, Deir Tasa and Matmar.

Many of the sites were excavated during the early part of the 20th century by Petrie, Guy Brunton, Gertrude Caton-Thompson and others under Petrie’s direction. The region’s main importance was that the finds from these areas form the original basis for dating the Badarian Period (c5500 to c4000BC) which at the time constituted the earliest phase of Egyptian Predynastic history. The area covers 35km from south to north at the edge of the valley plain and includes around 7000 recorded Tombs. Artifacts found during excavations were varied. A distinctive pottery type was identified – especially black-topped, polished red vessels which Petrie named Badarian ware. Terracotta vessels and stone vases, ivory figurines, slate palettes and large quantities of flint tools were also found around many of the graves.

From these excavated objects archaeologists have gained much information about the Badarian Culture. The people were early farmers in the Nile Valley, possibly originating from an area of Upper Sudan (suggested by pottery styles). Skeletal remains suggest that they were a tall people who wore their hair in plaits and garments woven from flax or grass fibres and animal skins. They were also hunters and fishermen, herded sheep and cattle and cultivated cereals such as emmer and barley as well as lentils and tubers to supplement their diet.

Although we do not have any remains of dwellings, post holes, pits and ash hearths have been found at the edge of the valley. They stored their food in large upright bins or jars placed in holes in the ground. The Badarian people were the first in Egypt to manufacture metal objects in the form of copper beads and pins but they used flint and stone tools to create the beautiful pottery we see today in museums. The best known pottery of this period is the black-topped and burnished wares which was carried on into the Naqada Periods. They were influenced by the world around them, producing textured pottery in the form of baskets and gourds and vessels in animal form.

Much of the knowledge we have of Predynastic burials comes from the cemeteries in Upper and Middle Egypt, while Lower Egypt has primarily revealed settlement sites from the period. In the early 1900s Flinders Petrie was instrumental in setting up a framework for dating the middle to late Predynastic Period, from pottery and flints found in graves in the Naqada region of Upper Egypt (sequence dating). He named these periods of chronology Naqada I and II, which are now more commonly known as the Amratian and Gerzean periods. When Guy Brunton and Gertrude Caton-Thompson excavated at El Hammamiya during the 1920s their main aim was to confirm the relationship between Badarian and Naqada culture, which they did when they found Badarian levels below that of the Naqada period level. In recent investigations at El Hammamiya, Diane Holmes has discovered a settlement containing small huts, thought to be animal shelters, dating from Badarian to Naqada II periods.

On the east bank of the Nile at the edge of the eastern desert between Akhmim and Asyut, are a series of cemeteries which were investigated by Petrie between 1922 and 1931. These ancient burial grounds stretch fromQaw El Kebir in the south to Matmar in the north and served as burial grounds for the inhabitants of this region of Middle Egypt from Predynastic times right through to the Roman era. The whole area is generally known as the El Badari region and encompasses cemeteries at El Hammamiya, El Badari, Mostagedda, Deir Tasa and Matmar.

Near modern El Ashmunein, on the west bank of the Nile, north-west of Mallawi, was a town known as Khmunw in Pharaonic times. During the Old Kingdom the town was of great importance as a cult center of Thoth, god of wisdom, healing and writing. In the Graeco-Roman Period the city was capital of the 15th Upper Egyptian nome, when it was called Hermopolis Magna – the Greek god Hermes was associated with the Egyptian Thoth, who dominates the site in the guise of two famous colossal baboon statues.

Khmun, in the ancient Egyptian language means ‘town of eight’, named after the Ogdoad. These were eight primeval deities (four frog-gods and four snake-goddeses) who were associated with the Hermopolitan creation myth and who symbolised different aspects of chaos before they eventually brought the primeval mound into being. There are no remains of the earliest development of the city and the only surviving elements of the site now comprise of crumbling mounds of mudbrick ruins and destroyed stone Temples. The once great Temple of Thoth at El Ashmunein was visited by several early explorers and in the early 19th century some of the columns of the hypostyle hall were still standing. During the 1930s a German expedition directed by Gunter Roeder excavated the pylon of a temple built by Ramses II, finding over one thousand re-used talatat blocks brought from the dismantled Aten Temples at el-Amarna. During 1980 to 1990, several seasons of excavations were directed by Jeffrey Spencer and Donald Bailey of the British Museum. The excavators found remains of Temples from the New Kingdom and later, including many artefacts and a major processional street from Hermopolis known as the ‘Dromos of Hermes’. The town site also revealed mudbrick houses dating to the Third Intermediate Period as well as Roman monuments.

Most visitors will arrive first at the site of the old archaeological mission house, which has now been turned into an open-air museum containing blocks, statues and stelae from excavations at El Ashmunein. At the entrance to the museum are two huge reconstructed baboon statues, their bodies over 4.5m high, representing the god Thoth. These are only two of several baboon colossi which were erected at the site during the reign of Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII).

Another road leads to the east through an overgrown area and past the great Temple of Thoth, one of the site’s main attractions which was constructed in several stages throughout the city’s long history. The monuments at Hermopolis have suffered from stone quarrying from early Christian times down to the early Islamic Period, but some of the stone masonry from the temple complex has remained in place. Archaeologists have uncovered foundations of the great pylon gateways built by Horemheb (Dynasty XVIII) and Ramses II (Dynasty XIX) during the excavations of the Thoth temple. It was in this area that the re-used talatat blocks from Akhenaten’s city on the east bank were found.

The largest remains of the Temple of Thoth date to the reign of Necatnebo I (Dynasty ***), who rebuilt parts of the structure and enclosed the temple precinct within huge mudbrick walls, 15m deep. Nectanebo’s gateway is on the southern side of the temple enclosure, followed by the pylon of Ramses II and a processional way. A structure in front of the Ramesside pylon contained oblelisks, royal statues, stelae and sphinxes of Nectanebo. Alexander the Great extended the Late Period temple by constructing a magnificent portico, or pronaos, consisting of two rows of six limestone columns and much colourful decoration, which was decorated by Phillip Arrhidaeus and Ptolemy I (Soter I). Only the foundations of the columns remain today since the portico was demolished in 1826 and the stone re-used in the building of a sugar factory.

To the south-west of the Temple of Thoth and lying at right-angles, are remains of an east-facing limestone sanctuary of Amun, protected by a turreted fortress wall. This was constructed during the reign of Ramses II with reliefs of Merenptah and Seti II (Dynasty XIX). The entrance pylon and part of the hypostyle hall of this structure can still be seen, but the rear parts are reduced to ground level and surrounded by water.

South-east of the Amun Temple there are remains of a monumental gateway dating to the late Middle Kingdom reign of Amenemhet II, perhaps the original entrance to the Temple of Thoth. Remains of the façade and a passage of this structure still survive. Further south another small temple was built in the reign of Ramses II with additions by Nero, where two seated colossi of Ramses stood before the entrance. On the edge of the village there are fragmentary remains of a temple dedicated during the time of the emperor Domitian to the goddess Nehemetaway, wife of Thoth which was the latest temple to be built at Hermopolis.

Outside the temple enclosure on the eastern side of the site are substantial remains of a Roman agora and a restored Coptic basilica, constructed with many blocks from Ptolemaic monuments and following an entirely Greek style of architecture. Most of the graceful granite columns still stand in the rectangular structure of the church – the best example of a monument from this period in Egypt. Nearby, a long architrave inscribed with a Greek text lies on the ground. The inscription informs us that ‘the cavalry militia serving in the Hermopolite nome dedicated the statues, temple and other buildings in the sanctuary, to the deified kings Ptolemy II and III and their wives . . . for their benevolence towards them’.

Near modern El Ashmunein, on the west bank of the Nile, north-west of Mallawi, was a town known as Khmunw in Pharaonic times. During the Old Kingdom the town was of great importance as a cult center of Thoth, god of wisdom, healing and writing. In the Graeco-Roman Period the city was capital of the 15th Upper Egyptian nome, when it was called Hermopolis Magna – the Greek god Hermes was associated with the Egyptian Thoth, who dominates the site in the guise of two famous colossal baboon statues.

Discover an uninhabited oasis in the midst of magnificent dunes, hidden from the south by massive limestone cliffs. Quench your thirst after a long safari in the charming spring located in the middle of Siwa Oasis. El Arag has breathtaking views of the surrounding desert. The oasis also boasts rich archaeological remains; artifacts, shards of pottery and two rock-cut tombs that have astonishing engravings. Note the Ancient Egyptian frieze of a cobra and sun disk on a tomb, the plant designs on the wall and the stars on the ceiling.

El Alamein War Museum is located 105 kilometers west of Alexandria and about five kilometers west of the Marinaresort. It is placed within the military areas of El Alumni. El Alamein War Museum was opened in the year 1956 during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser as a memorial of the The Battle of El Alamein between the British and the Germans in 1942 and the battles that took place in South Africa during the Second World War. El Alamein War Museum was renewed and reopened in 1992 during the presidency of Mubarak. The museum is one of the best place to visit in order to achieve an understanding of Story of World War II in Egypt.

El Alamein Museum is a complete illustration of the story of World War II in North Africa, containing records of all the events. Even before entering the Museum proper, in the garden are huge army tanks and various larger weapons. A visitor can view this heavy equipment from World War II, go inside a tank or an army car, or even jump up and sit atop a tank. The garden has about fifteen large pieces used by different forces in the Battle of El Alamein.

Inside the museum there are five halls. Each of them is dedicated to one of the four countries involved in the war, which include Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Egypt. The museum also has a mixed hall that contains items from the war generally.

The Egyptian Hall:
The Egyptian hall shows how Egypt helped the allies during the war. There are statues of Egyptian soldiers who helped the British troops in the war. A large statue of king Farouk is on display as he was the ruler of Egypt at the time. He was always criticized for his lavish life as he expended a lot of money on his personal pleasure without considering the people of Egypt and their sufferings during the war. The left wall of the hall is covered with a large portrait that shows a part of El Alamein Battle and how the Germans were defeated. The other walls are covered with photographed and painted pictures illustrating the help of the Egyptians to the Allies in the War.

The British Hall:
The hall mainly concentrates on the British troops and how they were able to defeat the Italians and then the Germans in North Africa. Uniforms of the British army during World War II are on display with different statues of soldiers doing different activities in the war time. The British role and their strategy during the war are on displayed in the form of stories and maps shown on the wall. The weapons the British used are displayed in this hall as well. However, calling this the British Hall is a bit misleading, as their efforts were much aided by those of the Australians. Hence, it is more of a commonwealth hall.

The Italian Hall:
The Italian Hall contains, just like the other halls, some statues of Italian soldiers wearing their uniform and participating in the war. Some pictures are displayed on the walls to show how the Italians suffered from the defeat in North Africa.

The German Hall:
The German Hall displays the role of the German army in the Battle of El Alamein and in the other battles of North Africa during World War II. Many different German weapons are displayed in this hall as well. Pictures of Rommel and Hitler are shown on the walls beside notes that show why the Germans lost the battle at Al Alamein.

El Alamein War Museum is located 105 kilometers west of Alexandria and about five kilometers west of the Marinaresort. It is placed within the military areas of El Alumni. El Alamein War Museum was opened in the year 1956 during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser as a memorial of the The Battle of El Alamein between the British and the Germans in 1942 and the battles that took place in South Africa during the Second World War. El Alamein War Museum was renewed and reopened in 1992 during the presidency of Mubarak. The museum is one of the best…

After a successful operation against the Italians, the British weakened in Egypt by the diversion of troops to Greece. Then, in March 1941 the newly-arrived Rommel counter-attacked and recaptured much of the lost territory in Libya and Egypt, though the important port of Tobruk, garrisoned by Australians, held out. In May a limited British offensive, code named Brevity, proved disappointing, and the large-scale offensive named Battleaxe the following month, saw the loss of 220 British tanks to only 25 German.

In July 1941 Sir Archibald Wavell, the Allied Commander in the Middle East, was replaced by General Sir Claude Auchinleck, and in November, the 8th Army at last mounted a successful offensive named Operation Crusader, which relieved Tobruk and pushed on to El Agheila.

But Rommel was not slow in striking back, first in an offensive which took him to a line just west of Tobruk and then, in a complex, swirling action between Gazala and the desert outpost of Bir Hacheim, in a battle which eventually saw the 8th Army in full retreat.
So Tobruk fell. Churchill called the loss ‘one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war’. The British did not stop retreating until they reached a position covering the 30 miles of desert between the impassable Qattara Depressionand the coast, where the road and railway run through the little village of El Alamein.

The Battle of El Alamein, fought in the deserts of North Africa, is seen as one of the decisive victories of World War Two for the Allies. It was primarily fought between two of the outstanding commanders of World War II, Montgomery, who replaced Auchinleck, after the latter’s lackluster performance, and Rommel. The Allied victory at El Alamein lead to the retreat of the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943.

El Alamein is located about 150 miles northwest of Cairo. By the summer of 1942, the Allies were in trouble throughout Europe. An attack on Russia named Operation Barbarossa had pushed the Russians back; U-boats were having a major effect on Britain in the Battle of the Atlantic and western Europe seemed to be fully in the control of the Germans.

Hence the war in the desert of North Africa was pivotal. If the Afrika Korps got to the Suez Canal, the ability of the Allies to supply themselves would be severely limited. The only alternate supply route would be by way of South Africa, which was not only longer but a lot more dangerous due to the vagaries of the weather. The psychological blow of losing the Suez and losing in North Africa would have been incalculable, especially considering that Germany would have had almost unlimited access to the oil reserves of the Middle East.

Therefore, El Alamein was a last stand for the Allies in North Africa. To the north of this apparently unremarkable town was the Mediterranean Sea and to the south was the Qattara Depression. El Alamein was a bottleneck that forced Rommel away from his favored form of attack, sweeping into the enemy from the rear. Rommel was a well respected general in the ranks of the Allies. The Allied commander at the time, Claude Auchinleck, did not command the same respect among his own men.

In August 1942, Winston Churchill was desperate for a victory as he believed that morale was being sapped from the Britain people. Churchill, despite his status, even faced the prospect of a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons if there were no forthcoming victories. He therefore fired Auchinleck and replaced him with Bernard Montgomery, who had much more respect from his men. “Monty” was described as “as quick as a ferret and about as likeable.” But above all else, he knew that he needed to hold El Alamein anyway possible.

Rommel planned to hit the Allies in the south. Montgomery guessed that this would be the Rommal’s move. It was the same tactic that Rommel had used before in the first Battle of El Alamein and he was also aided by British Intelligence who had got hold of Rommel’s battle plan and deciphered it. Therefore Monty knew not only Rommel’s plan but also the route of his supply lines. By August 1942, only 33% of what Rommel needed was getting through to him. Rommel was also acutely aware that while he was being starved of supplies, the Allies were getting vast amounts through as they still controlled the Suez and were dominant in the Mediterranean. To resolve what could only become a more difficult situation, Rommel decided to attack quickly, even if he was not well equipped.

However, by the end of August 1942, Montgomery was also ready for battle. He knew that Rommel was very short of fuel and that the Germans could not sustain a long campaign. Legend has it that when Rommel started his offensive, Montgomery was asleep. When he was woken from his sleep to be told the news, it is said that he replied “excellent, excellent” and went back to sleep again.

The Allies had placed a huge number of land mines south of El Alamein at Alam Halfa. German Panzer tanks suffered considerable damage from these and the rest were held up and became sitting targets for Allied fighter planes that could easily pick off tank after tank. Rommel’s attack started badly and it seemed as if his Afrika Korps would be wiped out. But he ordered his tanks north and he was then helped out by nature. A sandstorm blew up which gave his tanks much needed cover from marauding British fighters. However, once the sandstorm cleared, Rommel’s forces were once pounded by Allied bombers. Rommel had no choice but to retreat. He fully expected Montgomerys Eighth Army to follow him as this was standard military procedure, but that was not to happen. Monty was not ready for an offensive and he ordered his men to stay put while they held a decisive defensive line.

After a successful operation against the Italians, the British weakened in Egypt by the diversion of troops to Greece. Then, in March 1941 the newly-arrived Rommel counter-attacked and recaptured much of the lost territory in Libya and Egypt, though the important port of Tobruk, garrisoned by Australians, held out. In May a limited British offensive, code named Brevity, proved disappointing, and the large-scale offensive named Battleaxe the following month, saw the loss of 220 British tanks to only 25 German.

In July 1941 Sir Archibald Wavell, the Allied Commander in the Middle East, was replaced by General Sir Claude Auchinleck,…

Close to the entrance to Fayoum Oasis, Ehnasya El Medina is the modern village, perched on a hill above the site of ancient Henen-nesw, capital of the 20th Upper Egyptian nome, which the Greeks named Herakleopolis Magna. The extensive remains of the ancient city covers an area of 67 hectares and incorporates a number of cemeteries and temples spanning the Middle Kingdom to Roman periods. Modern names include Ihnasya El Medina and Ahnas El Medina.

It was from this city that the rulers of Dynasties IX and X originated, who later came into conflict with the early rulers of the Theban Dynasty XI. Henen-Nesw was the cult center of the ram-headed god Herishef (Harsaphes) during pharaonic times, a deity which the Greeks identified with their Herakles, giving the town its classical name. Attested from as early as Dynasty I, Herishef was a local fertility deity and may possibly be considered as a creator-god, whose name means ‘he who is upon his lake’ and who at different times was associated with the sun-god Re, wearing the sundisc and with Osiris, wearing the Atef crown. He is usually depicted as a ram-headed human.

On the south-western side of the site a temple, founded at least as early as the Middle Kingdom and dedicated to Herishef, was enlarged during Dynasty XVIII, with major additions during the reign of Ramses II of Dynasty XIX, when a hypostyle hall was added. This temple was first excavated in 1891 by Naville and D’Hulst, who found only Ramesside remains and afterwards re-dug by Petrie in 1904, who found a superb gold statue of Herishef. On the base of the statue the hieroglyphic inscription names the Dynasty XXIII King Neferkare Peftjauaybast, who is mentioned on the victory stela of the Nubian king, Piye.

The Temple of Herishef consisted of a forecourt with side-chambers depicting colossal statues of Ramses II in front of columns – the lower part of one of these statues has been recently uncovered. Beyond the forecourt was an entrance hall containing a double row of eight palm-columns, possibly dating back to the Old or Middle Kingdom. Behind this a hall with six pillars led to the inner chambers of the temple. The temple continued to be used during the Third Intermediate Period and into the Late Period. Rising ground water and blown sand now obscures much of the plan of the Temple of Herishef, but there are many column bases and fine Ramesside reliefs on the remaining scattered blocks. The temple complex once contained a small sacred lake. To the south-east of the Herishef temple at Kom el-Aqarib a second smaller temple was constructed during the reign of Ramses II.

Excavations of the site of Ehnasya El Medina were conducted during the 1960s and 1970s by the Archaeological Spanish Mission in Egypt and since 1984 have been under the direction of Maria del Carmen Perez Die of the Archaeological National Museum of Madrid. The recent work has been concentrated on the necropolis areas, bringing a great deal of insight into the occupation periods of the First and Third Intermediate Periods.

The First Intermediate Period cemetery is of great importance since the town site of this era has not been uncovered. The necropolis, located in 1968, is situated close to the southern wall of the city, near the modern village. Here a series of tombs were uncovered which revealed on one wall, an example of one of the earliest versions of the ‘Coffin Texts’, incorporating revised extracts from the earlier ‘Pyramid Texts’. The tombs, lined up in ‘streets’, were constructed from stone and mudbrick and were very jumbled when found, but some still contained fallen false-door stalae and offering tables as well as many artefacts and wall reliefs. Inscriptions on the stelae gave important information about the tomb-owners and subsequent epigraphic studies have allowed the Spanish team to give names and titles to prominent figures of the period, linking them to the royal Herakleopolitan court. In the excavation season of the year 2000 the tomb of a high official named as Wadjt-hetep was found to contain painted scenes of the funerary feast. Although the existence of a First Intermediate Period cemetery was established here, it is likely that this was re-used during the Middle Kingdom, with the earlier Tombs being mostly destroyed. Current stratigraphic evidence based on parallel ceramics and similar finds, seems to indicate the Middle Kingdom as a more likely date for the cemetery, but the exact chronology of this area has still not been firmly established.

Close to the entrance to Fayoum Oasis, Ehnasya El Medina is the modern village, perched on a hill above the site of ancient Henen-nesw, capital of the 20th Upper Egyptian nome, which the Greeks named Herakleopolis Magna. The extensive remains of the ancient city covers an area of 67 hectares and incorporates a number of cemeteries and temples spanning the Middle Kingdom to Roman periods. Modern names include Ihnasya El Medina and Ahnas El Medina.

It was from this city that the rulers of Dynasties IX and X originated, who later came into conflict with the early rulers of the…

Banana Island is a prime tourist destination in Sierra Leone. It offers a wide perspective in the slavery history of the country, and unparalleled beauty with lush forest reaching to secluded beaches. It also offers the widest choice of recreational and tourist activities such as, scuba diving, sport fishing, snorkeling, watersports, guided forest walks, historical tours. Also there is high density of guesthouses and resorts (4 only in Dublin village) that provide a wide range for various budgets. More information for the sights, activities, and accommodation options can be found on www.bananaislandsierraleone.com